1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to operating devices for operating complex vehicle electronic devices, and more particularly relates to an operating device for operating at least one vehicle electronic device using a single controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various electronic devices, such as audio devices including FM/AM receivers and CD players, communication devices including cellular phones, navigation systems, and televisions, have been mounted in vehicles. Sensors for detecting the states of these electronic devices, the states of automotive air conditioners, and the states (such as a temperature and a velocity) of the vehicle are interconnected through wires (such as a wire harness and optical fibers). With this construction, a single controller can perform integrated control of the electronic devices, and a single image display device can perform integrated display of the states of the electronic devices and the states of the vehicle.
Due to an increase in the number of vehicle electronic devices and multiple functionality of the electronic devices, operation of the electronic devices tends to become more complicated. Since the vehicle""s electronic devices may be operated while the vehicle is running, a driver must determine intuitively an appropriate operation. The image display device is required to display an image with high visibility that enables the driver to quickly recognize the necessary information.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an operating device for vehicle electronic devices, which provides an image with high visibility enabling a driver to determine intuitively an appropriate operation and to operate complicated functions of the electronic devices in a simple manner.
According to the present invention, there is provided an operating device for operating at least one vehicle electronic device including an image display device connected to the vehicle electronic device, a controller with an input device for operating the electronic device, and a sensor for detecting the touch or approach of a user at the input device. When the sensor detects the touch or approach of the user at the input device, the image display device displays an image of the input device and the functions allocated to the input device.
In the present invention, when a hand of the user touches or approaches the input device, the sensor outputs a predetermined signal. The image display device displays the image of the input device and the functions allocated to the input device in accordance with the predetermined signal from the input device.
In the present invention, since the image display device displays the image of the input device and the functions allocated to the input device at that time, the user can confirm which operation invokes which function at a glance. Thus, the user can easily operate electronic devices even in a vehicle electronic device system in which the electronic devices are interconnected through a bus line. In the present invention, the image display device displays the image of the input device and the functions allocated to the input device only when the hand of the user or the like touches or approaches the input device. The image display device does not display the image of the input device and the functions allocated to the input device when the hand of the user does not touch or approach the input device. Therefore, the image display device has a simplified display screen and improved visibility.
For further simplification of the display screen when the user does not operate the electronic devices, it is preferable to provide an optical shutter, such as a liquid crystal shutter, in front of the image display device to hide unnecessary portions while leaving exposed the necessary portions. Although the optical shutter may not be used and the unnecessary portions may be simply displayed as a black screen, a liquid crystal display panel, which is generally used as a vehicle image display device, may leak light in the diagonal direction due to viewing angle characteristics. For preventing the leakage of light, it is preferable to provide the optical shutter in front of the image display device and to block the light by means of the optical shutter, as described above.